This was a day when people heard "athlete" and "long snapper" in the same sentence.

It was a day when people learned there is actually more to long snapping than snapping the ball a fairly long way. A long snapper has chores like running downfield to cover a punt, and protecting the kicker or punter from an inside bull rush.

Who knew?

Bronco followers do now after the team released veteran long snapper Lonie Paxton on Monday with the intention of replacing him with undrafted rookie Aaron Brewer.

Photos: Broncos

"I think Aaron Brewer, we brought him in with the idea that we liked his ability," Broncos coach John Fox said in a conference call Monday. "He's an exceptional athlete. A lot of times with a snapper one of the things you look at is the protection element. He is like a center on the offensive line. He picked that up very, very quickly. He's very athletic so he's a really good cover guy for a center. A lot of times, people on punt returns don't count that guy. We just felt great about his upside and his performance in the preseason games."

There's something else people learned Monday. Long snappers have upside.

Paxton's release was the most surprising of the Broncos' 13 roster moves Monday as they pared their team down to 75 players.

"My support for the Denver and Colorado community will never change even if my uniform does," Paxton said in a statement.

He has been an NFL long snapper for 12 years, the first nine with New England where he earned three Super Bowl rings. Paxton was scheduled to make the veteran minimum salary of $925,000, so it doesn't appear to be a financial decision, although the Broncos did clear $1.29 million in salary cap room.

Brewer will make $390,000 this season. But a team that just spent $32.4 million in 2012 salaries on free agents Peyton Manning, Tracy Porter, Joel Dreessen, Jacob Tamme, Mike Adams and Andre Caldwell is unlikely to be overly motivated to save $535,000.

Brewer has not yet honed his snapping skill to Paxton's caliber. But Brewer did make 18 snaps during the first two preseason games - 12 on punts and six on extra points and field goals — without incident. He also had 15 special teams tackles in 50 games at San Diego State while Paxton had just five tackles in 49 games for the Broncos.

Omon, 27, was a nice story after he led the the team in rushing against the Beats in the Broncos' first preseason game at Chicago. But after breaking so many NCAA Division Division II rushing records in college, this marks Omon's 19th NFL transaction against 11 NFL regular-season carries.

"We liked our other backs just a little bit better," Fox said. "Unfortunately, you can't keep 10 of them. I like Xavier. He's a great kid, gave great effort."

The team will make 22 more roster moves Friday. Two of them could be the transfer of linebacker D.J. Williams and tight Virgil Green to the reserve/suspended list.

Williams had his courtroom appeal denied Monday, assuring he will start the start the season with a minimum six-game suspension. His suspension could be longer once NFL commissioner Roger Goodell completes his review of Williams' recent conviction on a driving while ability impaired charge.

Lockheed says object part of 'sensor technology' testing that ended ThursdayWhat the heck is that thing? It's fair to assume that question was on the minds of many people who traveled along Colo. 128 south of Boulder this week if they happened to catch a glimpse of what appeared to be a large, silver projectile perched alongside the highway and pointed north toward town.